Why is everyone talking about hydrogen?

There is significant global investment and interest in hydrogen, and particularly in Australia as it can be used for areas of our economy that are hard to decarbonise.

Governments worldwide are implementing policies and providing incentives to promote hydrogen. Examples include:

• European Union’s Hydrogen Strategy,
• U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office,
• Japan’s Hydrogen Society Roadmap and
• Australia’s National Hydrogen Strategy.

While many countries aim to use hydrogen to reach their greenhouse gas emission targets, not all countries have the resources to make enough hydrogen to meet their needs. Australia however, is in a unique position to not only produce enough low-carbon hydrogen for domestic use, but to be a major global exporter.

Australia is aspiring to be a leader in the research, innovation, and development of hydrogen energy technologies. Australia’s national strategy on hydrogen also outlines the importance of enhancing community acceptance and identifying clusters of demand. Consistent with this strategy, the Australian Government has established hubs for hydrogen energy across regional Australia to help grow the national hydrogen industry. Visit Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water to learn more.

Developing these hydrogen hubs will require strong localised demand and community support. Recent research shows that Australians currently hold relatively neutral views towards the use of hydrogen as a fuel source. Now is therefore the best time to build support and demand for hydrogen energy, before large-scale investment commences.

Hydrogen can play an important part in our renewable energy transition as a fuel that can decarbonise hard to abate industries (eg heavy transport, aviation, shipping). It can also be used as energy storage to capture energy produced by wind and solar for use later. The conversations that we have now can set the scene for hydrogen adoption and avoid future politicisation and poor decision making.

The development of community support is not without challenges. As a new technology, continual research and development is necessary, and as hydrogen behaves quite differently to traditional fossil fuels, bringing the community onboard will require a dedicated social licence focus.

Your task

Reflect on how Australia could benefit from hydrogen and the reasons communities may or may not support it.